Writer Calls Warriors Soft, Non-Contenders; Truth Behind That Assessment?

The Golden State Warriors are a league-best 28-5. They’re the only team to rank top-four in both offensive and defensive efficiency. They boast leading candidates for MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, and Sixth Man of the Year. Golden State, then, is a legitimate and perhaps leading championship contender, right? Not according to one prominent NBA writer.

Sam Amico of Fox Sports, one of the most respected league analysts in the business, offered this scorching hot take of the Warriors during their win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night:

https://twitter.com/SamAmicoFSO/status/553772620366491648

Interesting. Let’s dive-in for a mostly analytical exploration of that incendiary assessment.

There’s simply no evidence to support the notion that Golden State is “soft” – using subjective or objective means. Few teams in the league possess a frontcourt more intimidating or physical than Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut, and Kerr’s roster is filled with players whose competitive zeal is without question. How else to explain the defensive prowess of Andre Iguodala or Klay Thompson, or that Steph Curry crashes the glass with more aggression than perhaps any other point guard?

But eye-tests are personal. Numbers aren’t.

The Warriors’ defense is best in the NBA – by a wide margin. Their 96.2 defensive efficiency ranks first in the league, 2.3 points better than the Houston Rockets’ second-leading mark. Golden State’s overall effectiveness on that end isn’t accounted for by dominance in a single area, either. Green, Bogut, and company wreak have all over the floor.

Kerr’s team allows opponents to shoot just 57.3 percent from the restricted area, third-best in the league. Teams make only 31.4 percent of their three-pointers against the Warriors, a number bettered only by those of the Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers. Golden State forces more turnovers than all but eight teams; averages the second-most blocks per game; and has a mind-boggling crunch-time defensive rating of 73.0.

And though the Warriors aren’t a dominant rebounding team, they still are slightly above-average in that regard. With Green and Bogut on the floor, Golden State’s rebound percentage is 52.1 – less than a point below the Sacramento Kings’ league-best mark.

Soft? No way.

But what about the assertion that the Warriors’ perceived reliance on the long-ball will doom them come playoff time? That doesn’t hold water, either.

A reality lost on a majority of league followers is that Golden State doesn’t shoot or make the most three-pointers in the NBA – it ranks fifth in both shot frequency and point distribution from beyond the arc. Detractors will say those metrics still don’t refute the possibility of the Warriors sinking this spring if their long jumpers go cold, and they’d be right.

But it’s not like Golden State can’t score should that unlikelihood occur. The ‘Dubs are a top-two shooting squad from both the restricted area and mid-range, and get more points via fast break than any team in basketball.

Then there’s the tired belief that teams who shoot an inordinate amount of treys can’t win big in the spring. That’s simply an outdated take – both the 2011 Dallas Mavericks and 2013 Miami Heat lived by the trey as much as these Warriors. How’d they do in the postseason, again?

Golden State isn’t soft. And recent history has shown that its proclivity for three-pointers isn’t a playoff death-knell.

We knew that already, but confirming those realities to the masses is still pertinent. The Warriors are every bit as good as their sterling record suggests, and there’s no reason whatsoever to believe – injuries aside, of course – that they’ll play at a dissimilar level come April, May, and even June.

Does that make Golden State an overwhelming title favorite? No. But it certainly makes Kerr’s team a leading one at the very least.